Can You Be Misled?
Wow, I’ve never received a response to any blog like I did to the last two (especially the first one) about money and A Course in Miracles. “Money” evokes a very powerful emotional response. I know that students always read their own thing into my blogs, but I’ve never before had a wide enough response to observe how varied the response can be. This reaction was a clear demonstration of how the mind always sees itself!
My blogs are often written well in advance of my posting them. What follows below was written before I posted the blogs about money and it seems appropriate to post it after them.
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Sometimes students of A Course in Miracles write to tell me that what I write in my blogs is wrong or misleading. But can I mislead you? Like everything else in the world, my blogs are neutral. They contain words, which are symbols of symbolic ideas, which will be interpreted by the reader according to their goal for the world.
I have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to distort, but it is always possible to twist symbols around if you wish. (T-3.I.3)
Let us not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality. (M-21.1)
When I write my blogs I feel joy and peace because I am joined with the Holy Spirit and I experience an amazing clarity of mind. What I want to impart to my readers is this clarity that brings the whole message of forgiveness into sharp relief. But I know that what students read is not determined by the words I put down or by my experience as I put them down, but it is determined by the teacher with whom they choose to read. No matter what I intend, a student can read fear into my blogs if they choose the ego as their teacher.
You will be misled when you listen to the ego, and this always comes from within your own mind. What I write is not yet perfect because I do not yet consistently identify with the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit within you is perfect and can correct any mistakes for you. I have learned as much, if not more, reading things that made me uncomfortable, as I did reading those things I fully understood and accepted. Sometimes it was my ego-identification that made me feel threatened and I had to take responsibility for my perceptions. Often, I felt what I was reading didn’t quite jive with what I understood to be Truth or the way to Truth. These instances I would take to the Holy Spirit to ask for clarity. Sometimes the Holy Spirit showed me how I was mistaken or how I was misreading; other times It used what I was reading to contrast with the Truth to make the Truth clearer to me. The Holy Spirit can use anything to teach you if you have a mind open to the Holy Spirit.
I will not argue different readings of the Course because there is no right or wrong way to read the Course, only helpful or unhelpful ways to read it. The question is always, “Does the way you read the Course bring you clarity and peace?” If the answer is yes, we have the same Destination, so what difference does it make if you get there in a way that is different from me? The convolutions of the individual mind are beyond my grasp and I can’t be the judge of how the Holy Spirit reaches you. If I am prompted, I may make a comment. But usually I am not and I know that the student is really writing to me to bring clarity to their own mind.
If what my readers read is not determined by what I write then why do I write at all? Frankly, the words just push at me until I take them down! And of course what I write is reinforced in me. But besides my own peace of mind, and my own joy in writing with the Holy Spirit, and my own learning, I know what I write is a teaching device the Holy Spirit uses to reach those readers with an open mind and a willingness to learn from the Holy Spirit.
Judge not the words that come to you, but offer them in confidence. They are far wiser than your own. God's teachers have God's Word behind their symbols. And He Himself gives to the words they use the power of His Spirit, raising them from meaningless symbols to the Call of Heaven itself. (M-21.5)
(See also a related blog, The Tone of the Course’s Voice).
>>>>
One-on-one study, support and guidance are available for students of A Course in Miracles who want inner peace, harmonious relationships and a deep sense of purpose faster and easier. Visit www.acimmentor.com. There you will also find an archive-by-topic for this blog and booklets to deepen your understanding of the Course.
My blogs are often written well in advance of my posting them. What follows below was written before I posted the blogs about money and it seems appropriate to post it after them.
>>>>>>
Sometimes students of A Course in Miracles write to tell me that what I write in my blogs is wrong or misleading. But can I mislead you? Like everything else in the world, my blogs are neutral. They contain words, which are symbols of symbolic ideas, which will be interpreted by the reader according to their goal for the world.
I have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to distort, but it is always possible to twist symbols around if you wish. (T-3.I.3)
Let us not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality. (M-21.1)
When I write my blogs I feel joy and peace because I am joined with the Holy Spirit and I experience an amazing clarity of mind. What I want to impart to my readers is this clarity that brings the whole message of forgiveness into sharp relief. But I know that what students read is not determined by the words I put down or by my experience as I put them down, but it is determined by the teacher with whom they choose to read. No matter what I intend, a student can read fear into my blogs if they choose the ego as their teacher.
You will be misled when you listen to the ego, and this always comes from within your own mind. What I write is not yet perfect because I do not yet consistently identify with the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit within you is perfect and can correct any mistakes for you. I have learned as much, if not more, reading things that made me uncomfortable, as I did reading those things I fully understood and accepted. Sometimes it was my ego-identification that made me feel threatened and I had to take responsibility for my perceptions. Often, I felt what I was reading didn’t quite jive with what I understood to be Truth or the way to Truth. These instances I would take to the Holy Spirit to ask for clarity. Sometimes the Holy Spirit showed me how I was mistaken or how I was misreading; other times It used what I was reading to contrast with the Truth to make the Truth clearer to me. The Holy Spirit can use anything to teach you if you have a mind open to the Holy Spirit.
I will not argue different readings of the Course because there is no right or wrong way to read the Course, only helpful or unhelpful ways to read it. The question is always, “Does the way you read the Course bring you clarity and peace?” If the answer is yes, we have the same Destination, so what difference does it make if you get there in a way that is different from me? The convolutions of the individual mind are beyond my grasp and I can’t be the judge of how the Holy Spirit reaches you. If I am prompted, I may make a comment. But usually I am not and I know that the student is really writing to me to bring clarity to their own mind.
If what my readers read is not determined by what I write then why do I write at all? Frankly, the words just push at me until I take them down! And of course what I write is reinforced in me. But besides my own peace of mind, and my own joy in writing with the Holy Spirit, and my own learning, I know what I write is a teaching device the Holy Spirit uses to reach those readers with an open mind and a willingness to learn from the Holy Spirit.
Judge not the words that come to you, but offer them in confidence. They are far wiser than your own. God's teachers have God's Word behind their symbols. And He Himself gives to the words they use the power of His Spirit, raising them from meaningless symbols to the Call of Heaven itself. (M-21.5)
(See also a related blog, The Tone of the Course’s Voice).
>>>>
One-on-one study, support and guidance are available for students of A Course in Miracles who want inner peace, harmonious relationships and a deep sense of purpose faster and easier. Visit www.acimmentor.com. There you will also find an archive-by-topic for this blog and booklets to deepen your understanding of the Course.
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